The present invention relates to a teaching aid for use by athletes to improve their swings, and in particular to a golf swing teaching aid.
A variety of teaching aids are used to improve swings in sports such as golf, tennis, and baseball. Currently, teaching aids include verbal feedback, video playback, and mechanical guides—all designed to help a player feel the appropriate swing plane. However, none of these aids provide real-time feedback during an unencumbered, real swing where the athlete is actually hitting a ball at a target, just as he would under real game conditions.
In the field of improving swings used by certain athletes, there remains a need for a teaching aid which provides real-time feedback.
Electromagnetic technology has been used in a wide variety of applications. Direction-specific electromagnetic fields are used in such applications as proximity sensors, magnetic media read-write, finding and discriminating unexploded ordnance from other buried metallic clutter.
In the unexploded ordnance application, an electromagnetic sensor comprised of a transmitter coil and a receiver coil are used. The transmitter coil emits a time varying electromagnetic field. When this electromagnetic field energizes a metal target, it induces secondary fields, which are sensed with the receiver part of the sensor. By energizing the target in different directions, then measuring the magnitude of the induced secondary field in three component axis, one is able to ascertain crude target shape and size estimates. The directional control and dimensionality of these primary electromagnetic fields are adapted in this invention to be used as a reference to define the proper swing plane.